“The number of foreigners residing at the islands is far greater than I supposed. Four American mercantile houses – two of Boston, one of New York, and one of Bristol, Rhode Island – have establishments at this port, to which agents and clerks are attached.”

“Their storehouses are abundantly furnished with goods in demand by the islanders; and, at them, most articles contained in common retail shops and groceries, in America, may be purchased.”

“The whole trade of the four, probably amounts to one hundred thousand dollars a year: sandal wood principally, and specie, being the returns for imported manufactures.”

“Each of these trading houses usually has a ship or brig in the harbour, or at some one of the islands; besides others that touch to make repairs, and obtain refreshments, in their voyages between the North-west, Mexican, and South American coasts, and China.”

“The agents and clerks of these establishments, and the supercargoes and officers of the vessels attached to them, with transient visiters in ships, holding similar situations, form the most respectable class of foreigners with whom we are called to have intercourse.”

“There is another class, consisting of fifteen or twenty individuals, who have dropped all connexion with their native countries, and become permanent residents on different islands; and who hold plantations and other property under the king awl various chiefs.”

“Of these, Marini (Don Francisco de Paula y Marin) a Spaniard, interpreter for the government; Rives, a Frenchman, private secretary to RihoRiho; Law, a Scotchman, the king’s physician, all of Oahu; Young, an Englishman; and Parker, an American, of Hawaii; and Butler, an American, of Maui, are the principal and most known.”

“Marini and Young have been at the islands more than thirty years; and were companions and counsellors of Tamehameha. The former has accumulated much property, holds many plantations, and owns extensive flocks of goats, and herds of cattle; and is said to have money in fund, both in the United States and in England.”

“He has introduced the grape, orange, lemon, pine-apple, fig, and tamarind trees, but to a very limited extent; and seemingly from a motive entirely selfish: for he has perseveringly denied the seeds, and every means of propagation, to others, and been known even secretly to destroy a growth that had been secured from them without his knowledge.”

“A considerable quantity of wine is yearly made from his vineyard; and his lemons and pines, by sales to ships and in the town, bring quite an income.”

“He has a numerous breed of mules; and several horses, some twenty or thirty of which have within a few years been brought from the coast of California, and are now rapidly increasing.”

“Flocks of beautiful doves, also an importation, are domiciliated at his establishment; and some few miles from the town, along the coast, there is an islet, covered with the burrows of English hares, belonging to him.”

“Besides this class of foreigners, there are between one and two hundred runaway sailors and vagabonds, scattered through the group, wanderers on the earth, the very dregs and outcasts of society.”

“These, and, I am sorry to say, too many others, who, from their birth and education in a Christian land, ought to be examples of rectitude and morality, are the greatest corrupters of this wretched people; and present the most formidable of obstacles to the moral influence of our teaching.”

“Fancying themselves, in this remote part of the world, free from every restraint of God and man, instead of attempting to turn the heathen from their darkness, they encourage them in sin; even become pioneers in iniquity; and the instruments of doubly sealing them, as we fear, in the gloom of spiritual and eternal death.”

“When the first Missionaries reached the Sandwich Islands, in the spring of 1820, an effort was made by some of the foreigners, to have their landing and establishment at the islands forbidden by the government.”

“With this view, their motives were misrepresented by them, to the king and chiefs. It was asserted, that while the ostensible object of the mission was good, the secret and ultimate design was the subjugation of the islands, and the enslavement of the people …”

“… and by way of corroboration, the treatment of the Mexicans, and aborigines of South America and the West Indies, by the Spaniards, and the possession of Hindostan by the British, were gravely related.”

“It was in consequence of this misrepresentation, that a delay of eight days occurred before the Missionaries could secure permission to disembark.”

“In answer to these allegations, the more intelligent of the chiefs remarked, ‘The Missionaries speak well: they say they have come from America, only to do us good: if they intend to seize our islands why are they so few in number? where are their guns? and why have they brought their wives?’”

“To this it was replied, ‘It is true, their number is small: a few only have come now, the more fully to deceive. But soon many more will arrive, and your islands will be lost!’”

“The chiefs again answered, ‘They say that they will do us good; they are few in number; we will try them for one year, and if we find they deceive us, it will then be time enough to send them away.’”

“And permission to land was accordingly granted. Mr. Young, I am told was the only foreigner who advocated their reception.”

“The jealousy of the government was, notwithstanding, greatly awakened; and all the movements of our friends were closely watched: the king was even led to believe that the digging of the cellar, and the laying of the foundation of the Mission House, was the commencement of a fortification, of which the spaces left for windows were the embrasures.”

“By the close of the first year the Missionaries had so far proved to the government the purity of their motive, and the integrity of their character, that the question of their longer continuance was not agitated.”

“Some of the chiefs had already become interested in the instructions commenced in English, and in the services of Christian worship, regularly observed on the Sabbath, and occasionally at other times.”

“The partial acquisition of the language of the country – the formation of an alphabet for the native tongue – the elementary lessons in reading and writing which immediately followed – and chiefly perhaps the Preaching Of The Gospel – had by the end of the second year confirmed to the Missionaries the confidence of the rulers, and began to secure to them decided marks of friendship.” (The entire text, here, is from CS Stewart.)

“From the earliest colonial days, ship-building has been a favorite industry in America. The first vessel built within the present limits of the United States was the Virginia, a pinnace of thirty tons, constructed in 1601 by the Popham colonists”.

In the year 1668, the ship-building in New England, small as it may now seem, had become sufficiently important … of 1332 vessels registered as built In New England between 1674 and 1714, no less than 239 were built and sold to merchants abroad.”

“(T)he American vessels showed a marked superiority in point of speed over British men-of-war and merchant ships during (the American Revolution and War of 1812)”. Then came the clipper ship.

“The origin of the word clipper is not quite clear, though it seems to be derived from the verb clip, which in former times meant, among other things, to run or fly swiftly.”

“The word survived in the New England slang expressions ‘to clip it’ and ‘going at a good clip,’ or ‘a fast clip,’ are familiar expressions there to this day.”

“It therefore seems reasonable to suppose that when vessels of a new model were built, which were intended, in the language of the times, to clip over the waves rather than plough through them, the improved type of craft become known as clippers because of their speed.” (Clark)

The Clipper ship, generally either a schooner or a brigantine, was a classic sailing ship of the 19th century, renowned for its beauty, grace, and speed.

“The Clipper Ship Era began in 1843 as a result of growing demand for a more rapid delivery of tea from China (and) continued under the stimulating influence of the discovery of gold in California and Australia in 1849 and 1851”. (Clark)

Fast forward, and a new clipper made the scene across the Pacific – the flying boat. The flying boat dominated international airline service in the 1920s and 1930s.

As airplane travel became popular, Pan American Airlines asked for a long-range, four-engine flying boat. Pan Am chief Juan Trippe called the airplanes ‘clippers’ to link his airline with the maritime heritage of the world’s great ocean liners. (Pacific Aviation Museum)

In October, 1931, Pan Am introduced the Sikorsky S-40, the first American Clipper. When it began to fly, record after record was broken for performance in the air. (Horvat)

At the beginning of the decade, flying across oceans was a life-risking experience. However, beginning in 1936, Pan Am began to fly across the Pacific. (Pacific Aviation Museum)

On November 22, 1935, Postmaster General James A Farley and Mr Juan Trippe ordered Pilot Musick, commanding Pan Am’s China Clipper, to take off on the first airmail flight, by way of Hawai‘i and the other islands, on to its Manila destination.

Twenty thousand spectators were on hand to watch festivities at Alameda (on San Francisco Bay), all eyes on the immense silver airplane. They saw an estimated 110,000 pieces of mail weighing nearly two tons being stowed on board. (hawaii-gov)

First to make the Pacific crossings by way of Hawaii and other islands, through the years Pan American steadily increased its world services.

The first Martin Clippers were augmented in 1941 by larger Boeing Clippers. On November 16, 1945, Pan Am resumed commercial operations with their Boeing Clippers which had been leased to the Navy during the war. (Horvat)

Passenger numbers on a clipper depended on fuel needs and cargo–air mail and packages had priority. Usually only eight or nine passengers (sometimes fewer) flew on the long mainland-Hawaii hop. The clippers flew one trip a week in each direction.

“Her interior was like that of no other airplane,” reported journalist H. R. Ekins. “Her lounge… would seat 16 persons comfortably, leaving plenty of space in which to walk about.” The seaplane seemed to him “as roomy as the [airship] Hindenburg and as steady as a rock.”

The main cabin also served as a dining room. “It was a conventional supper–grapefruit, celery and olives, soup, steak, vegetables, salad, ice cream, cake and coffee,” wrote passenger Charles McKew Parr. “The captain acted as though we were his guests.” (Smithsonian)

“The oldest firm in Honolulu, that of James Robinson & Co … was commenced in 1822, and the shipyard located on the point (Pākākā) in 1827, where by patient industry, close application to the business, and prudent management of their affairs”.

“The commencement of this firm was through a common friendship and common misfortune—the result of one of those accidents which give a turn to human life, and wholly divert it from its former course. In 1821, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Lawrence, both young men, left England to seek their fortunes in the distant and then imperfectly known Pacific Ocean.”

“They sailed in the Hermes, reaching Honolulu in the spring of 1822. The Japan whaling-ground having been just brought into notice, the Hermes, together with the British ship Pearl, started the same day from this port to cruise there.”

“Twenty days out, on the same night, both vessels ran upon an unknown reef and were totally lost. More than sixty persons were thus thrown upon a desolate, barren lagoon island, in an unfrequented part of the ocean, with no prospect of succor except through their own management and skill.”

“Mr. Robinson commenced to build a schooner from the wreck of the ships, in which, with eleven others, he subsequently reached these islands in October, 1822. Before the completion of the schooner, an English whaler made the reef, and took away all the men except Mr. Robinson’s party of six, and six sailors, who would neither go away nor work for their own deliverance.”

“Four months were spent upon the reef – now known as the Pearl and Hermes Reef – and the schooner, short of water and provisions, started for Honolulu.”

“A long passage of ten weeks, with no other nautical instrument than an old quadrant and a pinchbeck watch to determine their position, brought them in sight of Hawaii with scarcely any provisions left, and only three gallons of fresh water on board.”

“Mr. Robinson and Mr. Lawrence, thus thrown upon this Island as waifs from the sea – their original plans entirely broken up, had really, by their indomitable energy and thrift, made the wreck on the Pearl and Hermes Reef the foundation of their subsequent business and financial success.”

“Their schooner was sold here for two thousand dollars, and Mr. Robinson found immediate engagement to put up others, imported about that time from the East.”

“They found that a shipyard was already a necessity of the port, and they entered upon the business. In 1827 they obtained from Kalaimoku, Pākākā – the Point – then nothing more than a coral reef, on which they established their shipyard and built the first wharves able to take alongside coasters and ships.” (Hawaiian Gazette, September 16, 1868)

“(A)t that time (they were) the only ship builders and repairers on the islands and in fact in the Pacific.” (Gilman; Cultural Surveys)

In 1840, the Polynesian commended the partners and their shipyard: “Honest, industrious, economical, temperate, and intelligent, they are living illustrations of what these virtues can secure to men. …”

“Their yard is situated in the most convenient part of the harbor has a stone butment and where two vessels of six hundred tons burthen can be berthed, hove out, and undergo repairs at one and the same time. There is fourteen feet of water along side of the butment.”

“The proprietors generally keep on hand all kinds of material for repairing vessels. Also those things requisite for heaving out, such as blocks, falls, etc. On the establishment are fourteen excellent workmen, among whom are Ship Carpenters, Caulkers and Gravers, Ship Joiners, Block-makers, Spar-makers, Boatbuilders, etc.”

In mid-September 1830, Joseph Elliott moved to The Point to open a hotel with Robinson. Lawrence and Holt, Robinson’s partners, appear to have specialized in the hotel and liquor business, which also featured a boarding house. The Shipyard Hotel had the advantage of being a “first chance – last chance” operation.

Years rolled on, and the firm of James Robinson & Co. (including Robert Lawrence and Mr. Holt) was a significant success and carried on a business that employed a large number of ship-carpenters and caulkers. More whaling ships were repaired at their establishment than at any other in the Pacific.

“In April 1847, James Robinson & Co. opened a butcher shop on the new wharf opposite the custom house. In September, W. H. Tibbey, butcher, began to operate in a shop on the government wharf.”

“In February 1848, the Sandwich Islands News complained of a ‘filth hole’ near the meat market on the wharf. Pedestrians waded knee-deep through the mire while their noses absorbed the terrible smell.” (Greer)

“(I)n December 1850 new sanitary regulations upped the pressure. Notices in Hawaiian and English went to all butchers and were posted in town; they strictly prohibited cow slaughtering at any place within the city limits, on any highway leading thereto, and on the banks of or over any stream used for drinking.” (Greer)

“Through the long period of forty-six years this firm has identified itself with the business interests of the Islands, and its name and financial resources have become familiarized to all our residents.”

“The partnership that existed was not one founded on legal forms or written conditions. It was commenced and has been carried on these long years through the simple force of individual character and confidence in personal integrity.”

“That either member of the firm insisted upon a business transaction or as investment contrary to the opinion of the others, was an unknown fact.”

“The firm has always been a unit in its plans and transactions, keeping their affairs to themselves and continuing steadily prosperous.” (Hawaiian Gazette, September 16, 1868)

This partnership lasted until 1868, when Mr. Lawrence died. For many years their building was one of the sights of the town, being decorated with the figurehead from an old vessel.

Robinson became so wealthy; reportedly, he lent substantial funds to the Hawaiian government during the 1850s and maintained a close relationship with the kingdom’s leaders until his death in 1876.

Hawaiians called him Kimo (James) Pākākā as Honolulu Harbor grew up around his shipyard. In 1843, James Robinson married Rebecca Prever; they had eight children: Mark, Mary, Victoria, Bathsheba, Matilda, Annie, Lucy and John.

Mr. Robinson died at his residence in Nuʻuanu valley August 8, 1876. However, his legacy lived on through his children.

His descendants became a well-known island family and his fortune founded the Robinson Estate. His son, Mark, was a member of Queen Liliʻuokalani’s cabinet (Minister of Foreign Affairs) during the chaotic last months of the monarchy as factional battles separated the royal government. He was a founder of First National Bank of Hawai’i and First American Savings.

His daughter Lucy married a McWayne (apparently, Robinson’s ship facility eventually became McWayne Marine Supply at Kewalo Basin – some old-timers may remember that later name.)

Daughter Victoria married a Ward. Their residence was known as Old Plantation, and included the current site of the Neil F. Blaisdell Center. Her estate, Victoria Ward Ltd, had other significant holdings in Kakaʻako.

Daughter Mary married a Foster. Her husband Thomas Foster was an initial organizer of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company. That company founded a subsidiary, Inter-Island Airways, that later changed its name to Hawaiian Airlines.

Foster had also purchased the estate of the renowned botanist William Hillebrand, which was bequeathed to the city as Foster Botanical Garden at the death of his wife Mary.

The origin of the Pacific Ocean Division of the US Army Corps of Engineers goes back to 1905 when Lieutenant John R. Slattery became the first Honolulu District Engineer.

In the early years the District constructed lighthouses and improved harbors in the Territory of Hawaii and erected seacoast fortifications for the defense of Honolulu and Pearl harbors on the island of Oahu.

The direct cause of assigning a Corps of Engineers’ officer to Hawaii was neither river and harbor improvements nor construction of fortifications. Lieutenant John R. Slattery, four years out of West Point, arrived in Honolulu in February 1904 because Hawaii had been found “woefully deficient” in lighthouses.

This conclusion had been reached by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico during its investigation of the condition of lighthouses and other federal matters in the Territory in 1903.

The Corps of Engineers’ responsibilities concerning lights and other aids to navigation had begun in 1852. Because of past problems in the Treasury Department office responsible for the construction and operation of lights, the Congress had authorized the creation of a Lighthouse Board that year.

The coasts of the United States were divided into districts, of which the Pacific Coast became the Twelfth Lighthouse District with its office in San Francisco.

The Army Engineer assigned to the Twelfth District had responsibilities in the construction, inspection, and maintenance of aids to navigation from the Canadian to the Mexican border.

In the early days at San Francisco, this officer was at times the San Francisco Engineer District Officer and at times the staff engineer assigned to the U.S. Army’s Department of California.

By 1903, however, lighthouse duties had become so complex that an Army Engineer, at this time Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H. Handbury, with a staff of his own, had become the Twelfth Lighthouse District Engineer.

Unlike San Francisco Bay, the ports of Hawaii do not experience navigational problems caused by fog. Early efforts in Hawaii to aid seamen were centered on the erection of lights at harbor entrances and at a few dangerous points of land near sea lanes.

Most of these lights were “fixed,” that is, steady beams of light with no revolving apparatus, and were low-powered and of short range.

Of an estimated 35 lights in the islands before aids to navigation became a United States responsibility in 1904, 19 had been erected by the Hawaiian government and the other 16 were privately owned.

The first light to be erected is said to have been at the port of Kawaihae on the northwest coast of Hawaii. Privately owned, it was lit in 1859 to guide whaling vessels into the harbor. Another port heavily used by whalers was the Lahaina Roadstead, Maui.

As many as 500 whaling vessels could be found there at one time in the heyday of the industry —much to the disgust of the missionaries on shore. In 1866, a small light was erected at Lahaina whose beam was visible six miles to sea.

Vessels entering Honolulu Harbor were assisted by two lights that were erected in 1869. The kingdom’s Interior Department reported at that time that a frame lighthouse had been constructed on the west reef at the inner end of the entrance channel.

It was supplied with an up-to-date Fresnel light of the fourth order, placed 25 feet above the high-water mark, and visible at a distance of ten miles.

Vessels entering at night determined the location of the entrance to the channel by lining this light up with a second one mounted on a tower on the Esplanade (later on top of the custom house). As the port grew, sea captains complained that they could not distinguish this light from others in the neighborhood. Perhaps that is why a red cloth was tied around it.
The south shore of Oahu was further marked by the erection of other lights: at Barbers Point to the west of Honolulu in 1888, and at Diamond Head around 1892.

Also at Diamond Head was a lookout station for reporting arriving ships to Honolulu (all ships sailing to Honolulu from the Pacific Coast passed through the channel separating Oahu and Molokai, past Diamond Head, and on to Honolulu). The lookout stationed at Diamond Head in 1902 was named Charles Peterson, but known to all as ‘Diamond Head Charlie.’

While the lights in the Hawaiian Islands were not as far advanced, it should be noted that the first American lighthouse on the Pacific Coast was not lit until 1854 – only five years before the Kawaihae light.

Nor did annexation bring immediate improvement to Hawaii’s aids to navigation; six more years passed before the United States Lighthouse Board (including Army Engineers) assumed responsibility for them. (All here is from Thompson and his History of the Army Corps.)

“(T)he distance between Panama and Yokohama, for example, via Honolulu, is greater than via San Francisco.” So why would ships stop in Hawai‘i?

“(S)hipping routes as well as lovers’ walks by moonlight, ‘the longest way round is frequently the shortest way home.’ The ‘short line’ argument ignores the fact that many things affect and decide routes of travel besides distance.”

“There are three distinct lines of steamer travel across the Pacific, north of the equator, between the American and the Asiatic continents. viz.:”

“(1) The southern route, via Hawai‘i, is in the northeast trade-wind belt, advertised by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company as the ‘Sunshine Belt,’ from the fact that the sun shines along this route during the great majority of the days of the year, and that the normal wind is a gentle breeze varying from ten to twenty knots an hour.”

“Since white men have visited them there has been nothing in the nature of a typhoon or hurricane in the Hawaiian Islands. Even heavy gales are few and far between. and fog is not known there.”

“The Hawaiian Islands and the surrounding ocean are the most favored spot, climatically, on earth.”

“(2) The northern route, from San Francisco, is along the Great Circle line. This is known as the ‘fog belt,’ for the reason that fog is prevalent there during the greater part of the year.”

“The prevailing wind along this line is from the west, and, as a rule. considerably stronger than the trade winds of the southern route. Violent storms are also prevalent along this line.”

“(3) The central route begins at San Francisco, but abandons the Great Circle route and its short distance of 4.536 miles, for a course considerably to the south thereof and making a distance to Yokohama of 4.791 miles, an increase in distance of 255 miles over the northern short line route. “

“This line is recommended by the hydrographic bureau at Washington to steamers crossing the Pacific from San Francisco. The object in taking this longer route is to escape the fog, violent winds and currents and storms of the northern route.”

“It is another demonstration that ‘The longest way round is the shortest way home.’”

“The foregoing demonstrates that although, theoretically, the northern route is 266 miles shorter than the southern, the route actually to be sailed is within eleven miles as long as the southern route.”

“Without looking for any further reasons, the supposed advantages of the northern ‘short line’ route disappear right here. All that remains to be done is to catalogue the many advantages which the southern route, via Hawaii, has over the northern route, via San Francisco.”

“The bulk of transpacific traffic will be carried on in comparatively low-powered freight steamers, making ten to twelve knots an hour, to whom boisterous weather conditions are a serious hindrance.”

“A few days of heavy weather, bucking head seas and winds, and the racing of the propeller as it is pitched up out of water, will use up far more fuel and time on the shorter rough route than will be expended on the longer but smoother route.”

“Stormy, rough weather is in every way detrimental to economical steaming; tends to rack, strain and otherwise injure the ship, with the possibility of wetting and otherwise injuring the cargo, regardless of what direction the wind is from.”

“Under these conditions, other things being equal, or even against a considerable handicap, the smooth water and gentle wind route will be chosen.”

“Practically all of the Pacific Mail and Japanese Mail line steamers plying between San Francisco and Yokohama now travel the ‘sunshine belt,’ via Honolulu, although it is 5,474 miles that way, instead of the direct, ‘fog belt’ route, although it is only 4,536 miles by that course. In other words they prefer a course which is 938 miles the longer.”

“To Hawaii oversea commerce, the arrival and departure of deep sea ships, is the alpha and omega of its commercial existence.”

“Everything that it imports and everything that it exports passes by sea. Every one who goes anywhere and every one who comes from anywhere travels by sea.”

“These conditions have created a habit of mind, a spirit and method of treatment of shipping that markedly characterizes Hawaiian ports.” (Thurston, History of the Panama Canal, 1915)

Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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